Posted on 02/24/2006 9:24:46 PM PST by jecIIny
February 25, 2006 1 Cafe, 1 Gas Station, 2 Roads: America's Emptiest County By RALPH BLUMENTHAL
MENTONE, Tex. — How empty is Loving County?
So empty that when Sheriff Billy Burt Hopper ran for office in 2004, he and his opponent attended each other's campaign barbecues. So empty that it cannot sustain two political parties: Republicans and Democrats all call themselves Democrats and vote in a single primary.
So empty that it has trouble seating 12 jurors who are not related to a defendant. (Not that there is much crime, although — or maybe because — Sheriff Hopper patrols in a pickup with two shotguns and an AK-47.) So empty that the jail was moved to Pecos in Reeves County, 26 miles away, in 1994.
In fact, this is the emptiest county seat of the emptiest county in the country.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Beats my story of a guy I met in Saudi that was from Arizona and was in the process of buying an entire town.
Of course, his town had actual residents. So I claim a small point there.
Definition of Texas - Miles and miles of smiles.
LOL! Beats mine.
I've driven lots of miles on back roads or practically no roads in some states (and even in France). In Texas we have FM roads (which means "Farm to Market") which I've driven from place to place.
It's fun to drive long distances at 30 or so MPH.
I've got a cousin in West Texas who lives out in the middle of nowhere on a gravel road. It's fun to visit him and listen to the quiet and wind at night and look at the stars.
There are some map books named, I believe "The Roads of Texas" or "The Roads of Colorado", etc. that have all the gravel roads and goat paths you can take
America is a great country at 30 MPH.
If Hillary gets elected, you'll have to do that where ever you live.
Your first name is Bob, Bill, Brian?
G-d Bless Texas! My home forever more...
I just watched that yesterday - funny
My BIL says it is miles and miles of nothing but miles and miles.
No, that was not Texas. Somewhere in the South.
I like it.
Looks like more buildings than people. Perhaps all the truckers were working when the census person visited.
It has one thing in common with Chicago. The real election is called the democratic primary.
I like empty places too. One of my favorite parts of the country is the Mojave desert in SoCal. I was stationed at 29 Palms for a while when I was in the Marines and I really miss that area. I remember being able to walk into the Chocolate Mountains behind the base and be literally the only human being from horizon to horizon. That was unbelievably cool. Then a pair of F-15s would pass 500 feet over me and make me pee my pants.
send the illegal aliens. they will have to open the school pronto.
I was thinking this has to be some county in Alaska.
This place sounded familiar, so I Googled it – Population (2004 est.) – 54. When I checked the location it may have been what I was thinking. I may have been in Loving County.
Back in 1982 on a road trip from Los Angles to Virginia via Florida I stopped at a “town” for gas. It consisted of a trailer home and gas station/general store/bar and grill on one side of the road and a post office/home on the other side. It had a municipal water supply consisting of a 5,000 gallon water trailer. I had ridden about 30 or 40 miles from the Interstate to find it.
Nothing else around - no telephone poles, no cross roads, no ranches – nothing. It made “Perfection, Nevada” from the TV series “Tremors” look like a real city.
You wouldn't want to be because you would disenfranchise yourself. This is the way all of Texas used to be. When you registered to vote, it was assumed you would register Democrat because all the elections were decided in the primaries.
And why are all the counties geography square?"
Because early county layouts were based on surveyed sections, especially easy to do, and more so when there are not major rivers, etc.
One mile x one mile= a section, which is 640 acres.
This was a very easy method, and land giveaways were also a part of this, as the west was settled and populated.
Brewster County is physically larger than Connecticut.
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